Wire aligning and tensioning mechanism



Oct. 20, 1959 L. A. KINGSLEY WIRE ALIGNING AND TENSIONING MECHANISM Filed May 27, 1957 INVENTOR.

lEW/S 4, //V5LEV I BY J JTTOIPNEY-S' United States 2,909,341 wnm meme mmssmme Y MECHANISM Lewis A. Kingsley, Beverly Hills, Calif.

Application May 27, 1957, Serial No. 661,818

3 Claims. (Cl. 242-151) This invention relates to an improved wire feeding and tensioning device for a wire processing and marking machine. a

It is an object of this invention to provide means for guiding wire or similar objects having a circular cross secton to a processing machine.

It is a further object of this invention to provide precise reference points for wire feeding to the wire processing and marking machine to insure proper alignment thereof.

It is still a further object of this invention to pro vide suflicient tension in wire to be marked to maintain its alignment during marking.

It is a further object of this invention to provide means which compensate for minor irregularities in the shape or outside diameter of the outer covering of wire being fed while allowing the free movement under an even tension without affecting the precision alignment required for subsequent operations upon the wire.

It is a further object of this invention to provide means which will allow passage of lumps or defects in the insulation on wire.

Still-a further object of this invention is to provide feeding means which will accommodate a variation in the size of wire being fed.

Other objects and advantages will be readily apparent from the following description:

In the drawings:

Figure l is a front elevation of a mechanism embodying this invention;

Figure 2 is a side elevation, partially in section, of the mechanism; and

Figure 3 is a front elevation of a pair of identical units of the form shown in Figures 1 and 2 arranged on opposite sides of a hot stamping machine.

In practice, two identical units are utilized, equally spaced on opposite sides of a hot stamping machine, such as for example that illustrated in the patent to Lewis A. Kingsley, No. 2,047,373 issued July 14, 1936, as shown in Fig, 3. Wire 12 to be marked by the stamping machine is fed through units 10 which are aligned on the base 14 of the stamping machine so that the wire will be perfectly aligned with the type of the stamping machine. Since the aligning and tensioning units are identical, only one will be described in detail. A housing 16 is hollow and is pivotally mounted upon base 14 of the stamping machine. For this purpose, a block 18 is fixed by screws 20 on 'base 14. Housing 16 has a forked extremity 22 which straddles block 18 and is pivotally secured thereto by a bolt 24. Engagement of surface 26 with block18 restricts pivoting of the housing 16 when same reaches an upright position. Each unit is mounted to pivot so as to get the wire out of the machine when changing type or other adjustments are made, and each is pivoted to the upright P sition during stamping operation.

As previously stated, housing 16 is hollow. A roller 28' is mounted upon bearing sleeve 30 within'housing 16.

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A bolt 32 projects through the front and rear walls of housing 16 and sleeve 30, rotatably mounting the roller within the housing. A second floating roller 34 is similarly mounted upon a bearing sleeve 36 through which a floating shaft 38 projects, rotatably mounting roller 34 on shaft 38. This shaft projects through enlarged slots 40 in the walls of housing 16, permitting relative movement of roller 34. The shaft 38 has a pair of screws 42 which screw into each end of the shaft and each of which passes through an ear 44 on the upper extremity of housing 16, thereby guiding vertical movement of shaft 38. Springs 46 have one extremity bearing against shaft 38 and the other on the underside of ear '44, thereby biasing shaft 38 and hence roller 34 towards roller 28.

The periphery of roller 34 is grooved as at 48 to receive a pair of O-rings 50. These rings are preferably of neoprene and are larger in diameter than the wire 12 being fed through the stamping machine, functioning to insure centering of the wire without injuring or scufiing the surface thereof. The groove 48 is formed to just receive the rings 50 and snugly conform to their contour to avoid any movement thereof relative to roller 34.

The bearing sleeves 30 and 36, as they rotate upon shafts 32 and 38, offer sufi'icient frictional resistance to turning to insure that wire 12 is maintained in a taut condition between the units 10 on either side of the stamping machine, and to maintain alignment of the wire with the type holding mechanism of said machine.

While what hereinbefore has been described as the preferred embodiment of this invention, it is readily apparent that alterations and modifications can be resorted to without departing from the scope of this invention, and such alterations and modifications are intended to be included wtihin the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. An aligning and tensioning device for a wire processing and marking machine having a type holding mechanism comprising: a wire holder positioned on either side of said machine, each wire holder having a pair of rotatable rollers therein for engaging wire being fed through said machine, a pair of adjacent O-rings of elastic material, in side-by-side relation, each having a greater diameter than the wire adapted to be fed therethrough, occupying a common channel in the periphery of one of said rollers for straddling said wire, the periphery of the other roller being flat, and providing a reference point for aligning wire being fed through said machine with said type holding mechanism and resisting movement of said wire sufiiciently to maintain same in a taut condition.

2. An aligning and tensioning device for a wire processing and marking machine having a type holding mechanism comprising: a wire holder positioned on either side of said machine, each wire holder having a pair of rotatable rollers therein for engaging wire being fed through said machine, means biasing one of said rollers toward the other, a pair of adjacent O-rings of elastic material, in side-by-side relation, each having a greater diameter than the wire adapted to be fed therethrough, occupying a common channel in the periphery of one of said rollers for straddling said wire the periphery of the other roller being flat, and providing a reference point for aligning wire being fed through said machine with said type holding mechanism and resisting movement of said wire sufiiciently to maintain same in a taut condition.

3. An aligning and tensioning device for elongated, flexible, members of generally circular cross section, comprising: a frame having a pair of rotatable rollers rotatably supported therein for engaging an elongated flexible member of substantially circular cross section passing movement thereof sufficiently to maintain same in a taut condition.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Wardwell, Jr. Jan. 16, 1883 Hill Sept. 13, 1887 Karn "4 Dec. 25, 1888 Dick June 11, 1889 Spick1er Jan. 10, 1899 

